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Monday, September 26, 2016

TESTING COLOURS: Keeping Visual Information to Minimum

How do you paint water? How do you know that what you are painting is water? Using three primaries again, I did a quick sketch of a tethered dinghy on calm water. How do you know there is water? Well, the reflection is one dead giveaway. But the second clue is the boat itself - what do you think when you see a boat? Unless indicated otherwise, chances are that you mind will be looking for the boat's support - the water that it is usually sitting in. Whether it is a lake or a river, or even the sea. And when you find a reflection beneath the boat, your mind will confirm what you are seeing is a boat on water that you are seeing.

So in sketching, the trick is to keep your pieces simple, with just enough information to let the viewer fill in the rest.

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ABOUT ME

I am a journalist, having worked with the New Straits Times for over 22 years in various capacities on the editorial team. I took early retirement from regular work to pursue my passion in art at the end of 2014. I founded the KL Sketchers group, the first Urban Sketching group to hold a public exhibition in University Malaya in 2013. I am also founder of several other art groups, including Malaysian Watercolours,Malaysian Plein Aire Artists, and the Asian Watercolours on Facebook. These days I still write but sketch and paint outdoors mostly, looking at life from an artist's point of view.

WATERCOLOUR CLASS

I have been asked by some readers who want to take up watercolour if I conduct classes. I do, occasionally, but not often. If you want to learn watercolour from the basics, write to me.